Unit 24: The weak 'schwa' sound: stress in words
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The schwa sound is the most common vowel sound in the English language. It is also the cause of lots of spelling mistakes. |
Read these words aloud in your normal voice:
In each case, the vowel in the second syllable has a weak sound:
In parrot and lion, you cannot hear the sound /ŏ/.
In camel you cannot hear the sound /ĕ/.
In zebra you cannot hear the sound /ă/.
In fact, the sound in each case is more like a soft /er/ or /u/ sound. The word 'schwa' is German but has its roots in the Hebrew word for 'emptiness' – apt because it can sound like there is no vowel there at all.
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Click here to hear the schwa sound.
Listen hard or you might miss it! |
In dictionaries and the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) the schwa is often represented by the symbol Ə
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